What are we doing in Afghanistan?

Are we at war? Helping set up a new government? What exactly is our goal?

I should probably make it clear that I'm talking about the US...I have no idea who else is there.

The reason I'm asking is, I was just looking at a newspaper from Kenya and it had this article in it that seemed really out of left field to me. I could chalk it up as ignorance on my part, but I wonder what you all think.
Victory Close, says Taliban Leader

Killing people and stealing Heroin.

Then government will let us know in about 50 years or so.

On the one hand, the Taliban have been saying this since day one, on the other, Afghanistan in the past has been notorious for being inconquerable and a b**** to rule.

As for the why, if you're a government supporting actions like these




you shouldn't be surprised when other countries attack you.

This is true. I was wondering though if we're fighting in Afghanistan. Since we're in two countries at the moment, I'm not sure what's going on where.

Yeah there's fighting in Afghanistan. It seems to be mainly roadside bombs and the worst of the fighting is all in one district but we are still fighting

We're there...again...

The thing with invading countries, is that you have to take them over. Completely.

The problem with that for America, is that it somewhat goes against it's own history to be a colonial power and the UK fears the tag of being portrayed as returning to one.

Here's a Brit take from the New Statesman written in 2008. https://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/10/afghanistan-british-taliban Makes you think and the British military has had a ton of experience there. The American military is not likely to be beaten in Afghanistan, but it can be bled and can it achieve the political goals needed to make a military presence unnecessary? Probably not.

The quick reaction of the local Islamic groups to the Koran burning story from Florida has to give pause as to whether we are accomplishing anything by sacrificing our young on their killing fields. The Taliban will probably return shortly after we leave no matter the amount of time. They'll just wait it out. The link story claims the Taliban has approximately 1.5MM willing recruits in Pakistan alone.

Its time for the West to rethink its military and political strategy for handling terrorist operations ensconced in foreign lands. What we're doing doesn't seem to be working and these young soldiers are being sent back multiple times into the theater. Eventually, a bomb or bullet will have their name on it. Time to get out and rethink this. Too many loons and the probability of a working democracy in a tribal society is low. Too much treasure and blood invested already.

Afghanistan is not much unlike the country of the English adventures in the 1800s and it will probably be close to that in the 22nd Century as well. We made our point and punished the operation that fostered Al Qaeda. We may have to do it again, but the U.S. has to get out of the country/government building business and leave it to the locals.

WWhen Washington made the initial mistake it just floated into the nextBut what next? Naval and air forces to the Middle Eastern waters? Armed invasion of Afghanistan where the Bin Laden is supposed to be hiding? ( the first suspect?) Didn't we do this before? And paid heavily with loss of life and funding? There must be a different way to address this problem without involving absolute invasion of some third rate country. Washington took the normal way. Ans we are paying for it!

Whee. Apparently this makes me a dummy.
At least whoever thinks so wasn't brave enough to put their name on the kudo.

Oh really, Ive been to Afghan twice. Last time I was over there, we were building chools for the villagers who have nothing. Giving them other crops to grow other than Heroin so they dont have to depend on the Taliban. Also it was the Afghan goverment that invited us over there to clean up the mess with the Taliban.

Yeah people get killed, but that happens anyway in Afghan, life is very cheap over there. People sell there childeren off to be suicide bombers so they can have some money.

Also reference Heroin, its actually UK, Britich and USA forces that burn down the poppy fields.

So let me ask you, other than criticse stuff you know nothing about, what so you do thats so important, oh wait I alredy know, you sit on your fat a** and do nothing.

What should I be doing instead then?.

If you guys are doing such a splendid job of burning down poppy fields why is heroin just as readily available as it was before,why hasn't the price increased?.

In July 2000, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, collaborating with the United Nations to eradicate heroin production in Afghanistan, declared that growing poppies was un-Islamic, resulting in one of the world's most successful anti-drug campaigns. As a result of this ban, opium poppy cultivation was reduced by 91% from the previous year's estimate of 82,172 hectares. The ban was so effective that Helmand Province, which had accounted for more than half of this area, recorded no poppy cultivation during the 2001 season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan#Rise_of_the_Taliban_.281994.E2.80.932001.29

Link

Since we invaded production has broken records for tonnage year after year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101654.html

My hat is off to you. You will find a very entrenched and ignorant Leftist group on many forums and this one, sadly, is no exception. They get their information from very few sources and generally only those that have a relatively slanted view on reporting.

You'll get inane questions like the one to your post as to why heroin is still on the streets, as if the Taliban, corrupt officials in Afghanistan, the UK, the US and France, as well as the domestic and international drug cartels are not creative in getting product on the streets. They post this way in an effort to marginalize anyone not thinking in their terms or in their way.

Your statement asking about their criticizing things they know nothing of, having a sense of not just importance, but self-importance and superiority while doing nothing more constructive than making wild-ass claims and accusations is really pretty accurate. You will see some to the dumbest, Left of the riverbank statements published in these types of venues with no ability or effort to back them. You will also find it is a mutual defense group who will go after your statements with claims (again little in the way of viability) that will make that area of the brain just behind the eyes hurt.

So, my best to you and keep at it. We need other voices on these forums to challenge these people. Good job, and I know what what you did and what you and your mates went through. Most of the people challenging you have no clue whatsoever.

USAF Veteran - ROMADS 1965 - 1972. Vietnam & West Germany

I'm not sure, but it has a history that goes back to the Treaty of Paris (1763); Washington attacking Indians during the American Revolution; Hamilton (during the Adams Administration) wanting to invade Venezuela; Jefferson, Madison and Monroe sending a navy and army to North Africa; Jackson sending a navy to Central America; Lincoln sending a navy up the Mississippi and an army down the Mississippi; Grant sending Sherman to South Dakota; McKinley sending a navy to Manila Bay and an army to Cuba; Roosevelt #1 sending I forget what to Central America and Moses to Peking; Wilson sending an army to Mexico, Haiti, Russia and France; Roosevelt #2 sending an army to Germany and a navy to Japan; Truman sending an army to Korea and the CIA to France, Italy, Greece, and Iran; Eisenhower sending the CIA to Central America and Iran; Johnson sending armies to Dominican Republic and Vietnam; Nixon supporting Israel in what? (The Six Day War?); Carter refusing to bribe the mullahs; Reagan sending a navy to Lebanon and the CIA to Central America, and an Army to Granada; Bush #1 sending an army to Kuwait and Panama, Clinton sending an air force to Serbia; Bush #2 sending an army to Iraq, and Obama sending the CIA to Pakistan.